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Racing
Wednesday evenings from March to October, monthly club races, a Sunday series and three open regattas. You keep your own time and post your score from the dock — which is why a first-timer can race here without a committee boat ever calling their name.
The Goslings Rum Race
Every Wednesday, March to October
Open to members and non-members alike. There is no starting gun and no committee boat on the line: you cross the start any time inside a five-minute window, keep your own elapsed time, and post it when you get back.
- Season
- Every Wednesday, 11 March to 28 October 2026
- Start window
- 18:25:00 – 18:30:00
11 Mar – 8 Apr and 30 Sep – 28 Oct: 18:00 / 18:05 - Looking to crew
- Be at the ramp by 5:30 pm
- Course
- Posted on the east door of the clubhouse and on Facebook by 5:30 pm. Once posted it does not change.
- Scoring
- Self-timed. Post your elapsed time at vuduwave.com/lmsa
- Time limit
- None
- Rules
- Racing Rules of Sailing 2025–2028
- Sponsor
- The Breezeway
1. Sign in before you go afloat. You will not be scored otherwise.
2. Start any time between 18:25:00 and 18:30:00 and start your own timer as you cross. Miss the window and you may start your timer at 18:30 and sail the course anyway. You may also restart inside the window if you want a better one.
3. Sail the posted course and keep your own elapsed time.
4. Sign out at vuduwave.com/lmsa from your phone at the dock —
entering your time is what signs you out. Format it like 48.14 or
1.04.25, or DNF.
5. Ashore for scoring, awards and the prize draw.
After scoring, a non-competitor draws a chip showing a finishing position. That boat wins a bottle of rum or a sponsor prize — but the skipper or a crew member has to be there to accept it, and the boat must have had a valid start.
Non-members are welcome to race and are encouraged to join us afterwards, but are scored separately and are not eligible for bottle prizes or fleet stickers.
Every sailor and crew member must complete the liability waiver once per season. No waiver, no score. Signals made ashore fly from the clubhouse flagpole.
Series and events
More than Wednesdays
Six regular series run alongside the Rum Race, plus three open regattas. Some are members-only; the Wednesday and Sunday races are open to anyone.
Goslings Rum Race
The weekly race and the heart of the club. Self-timed, open to all, rum for the winner.
Monthly Club Races
Members only, run by a rostered race committee. A different member takes RC duty each month.
Jameson Sunday Race
The Sunday counterpart to the Rum Race. Check the calendar for dates and times.
Ladies on the Lake
A series sailed with women on the helm, with its own standing championship.
LMSA Championship
The club championship, scored across the season alongside the Standing Club Championship.
Fleet 29 San Juan 21 Travel Series
One-design travelling series for the San Juan 21 fleet, our largest single class.
The course
Commonly used marks
Positions for the marks the courses are built from. The Rum Mark moves a little with current and weather but should be within about 20 feet of the position below.
| Mark | Latitude | Longitude |
|---|---|---|
| Rum Mark | N 28° 50.130′ | W 081° 15.840′ |
| Gosling Mark | N 28° 49.800′ | W 081° 15.150′ |
| Romance Mark — Flag | N 28° 49.123′ | W 081° 15.874′ |
| Romance Mark — U Sail Ball | N 28° 49.150′ | W 081° 15.721′ |
| Channel Buoy 8 | N 28° 49.881′ | W 081° 17.193′ |
| Channel Buoy 10 | N 28° 49.501′ | W 081° 16.897′ |
| Channel Buoy 12 | N 28° 49.284′ | W 081° 16.508′ |
| Channel Buoy 2 — east side | N 28° 49.004′ | W 081° 14.566′ |
| Manatee Mark 1 | N 28° 50.851′ | W 081° 14.916′ |
| Manatee Mark 2 | N 28° 51.201′ | W 081° 15.212′ |
Channel Mark 8 is the tripod; Channel Mark 10 is the single post leaning over.
Scoring
How a mixed fleet is scored fairly
Lightnings, Nacras, San Juan 21s and cruising keelboats all start together, so every result is corrected. We start from US Portsmouth numbers and then apply our own back-calculated ratings.
Back-calculated ratings (BCR)
Published Portsmouth numbers are a national average. They do not know that Lake Monroe is shallow, shifty and often light. So the club recalculated them from its own racing.
Every Rum Race since the start of 2024 with at least four boats was examined. Races with freak results — the wind dying, filling in, or going 180° — were thrown out, as were individual finishes far outside a boat's normal range. From what was left, a rating was calculated that moves each boat toward the middle of the fleet.
One deliberate asymmetry: a boat whose rating improves gets 80% of the change, while a boat whose rating gets worse takes the full hit. Identical boats — the San Juan 21s, the Hobie Waves, the Catalina 22s — all carry the same number. A boat without four qualifying finishes keeps its standard Portsmouth rating.
Posting your time
Rum Race scores go to vuduwave.com/lmsa from your phone at the dock. Find your boat, enter your elapsed time, done — that also signs you out.
The monthly Club Series is a different animal: it has a real race committee on the water, so it is timed and scored by the RC in Sailwave, and results are published as a series scoreline rather than posted by competitors.
| Class | USPN | Vudu |
|---|---|---|
| Nacra 6.0 | 62.6 | 71.5 |
| Nacra 5.8 | 66.5 | 62.5 |
| Lightning | 87.0 | 85.5 |
| Capri 22 (tall rig) | 88.9 | 91.0 |
| Beneteau 235 | 90.6 | 98.0 |
| Capri 22 | 90.8 | 85.8 |
| Pearson 26 | 91.5 | 101.5 |
| Hobie Wave | 92.1 | 89.2 |
| Catalina 28 | 92.6 | 103.0 |
| Hunter 235 | 94.2 | 103.6 |
| San Juan 21 | 94.7 | 94.8 |
| Precision 23 | 96.0 | 96.2 |
| Catalina 22 | 96.3 | 91.9 |
| Sounder | 104.5 | 107.3 |
| Typhoon 18 | 106.7 | 116.7 |
Lower is faster. Ratings are reviewed periodically to keep them current.
Results
Where to find your score
Live scoring and the full race archive are on VuduWave. Season summaries are kept here.
Every Rum Race, Club Race and championship is scored here, race by race, going back through the season. This is also where you post your own elapsed time.
Recent seasons
- 2026
- Rum Race, Club Championship, LMSA Championship, Ladies on the Lake, Sine Metu
- 2025
- Full season archive
- 2024
- Full season archive — the basis for the current BCR ratings
- Earlier
- 2018 – 2023 results are held by the club
Before you race
Documents
Sailing instructions, waivers and entry forms. Every sailor needs the waiver once a season.
Sailing instructions
- Club Series
- 2026 LMSA Club Series instructions (PDF)
- Trans Monroe
- Southern Challenge 2026 SIs (PDF)
- Courses
- Course diagrams (PDF) · mark positions
Notices of race
- Trans Monroe
- Southern Challenge NOR 2026 (PDF)
- Ladies on the Lake
- Club Series NOR 2026 (PDF)
- Fleet 29
- San Juan 21 Travel Series NOR 2026 (PDF)
Entering
- Registration
- 2026 LMSA registration forms (PDF)
- On the day
- On-site registration form (PDF)
- Waiver
- Liability and authorization agreement — required once per season, for every sailor and crew member. Signed at the ramp.
- Ratings
- US Sailing Portsmouth Yardstick, adjusted by club BCR — see above
Recent results
- Rum Race
- Live on VuduWave
Older seasons and the full document archive are held by the club — ask any officer.